POWER OUTAGE: Marian Gaborik, who is fifth in the NHL with 39 goals, has scored just twice in his last 11 games since returning from a groin injury. Photo: AP

Where’s Gabby?

It’s difficult to know what is more troubling, that Marian Gaborik played poorly enough (again) to merit benching for the final 8:15 of the second period in the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto on Saturday night, or that coach John Tortorella believed that benching the team’s lone marquee forward was the only way to jump-start him.

Seriously, with all of the issues the Rangers must surmount over the final seven games that after a season of good health now include knee injuries to top-six forwards Ryan Callahan and Sean Avery, the most perplexing is Gaborik’s recent penchant for disappearing at both ends of the ice for shifts at a time.

It is going to be difficult enough for this talent-thin team to make the playoffs, but it is going to be impossible if Gaborik does not find his game. It is going to be impossible if Gaborik does not score.

Everyone recognizes that Gaborik has done splendid things in his first year on Broadway without the benefit of a legitimate playmaking center. The fact is that No. 10 is fifth in the NHL in goal scoring with 39, trailing just Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos (all with 45 as of yesterday) and Patrick Marleau, with 42.

Everyone can see that the home-run passes that Michael Del Zotto would thread to spring Gaborik are fewer and farther between as the opposition has grown more familiar with the teenager and as checking has become tighter around the league over the final two months of the season.

But it’s also a fact that Gaborik has scored in just two of 11 games since returning from the groin injury he sustained at the Olympics. It’s a fact that the Rangers are 2-6-1 in those nine games in which he did not score.

It’s a fact that Gaborik has scored in just nine of his last 30 games after getting goals in 23 of his first 39. It’s a fact that the Rangers are 19-10-3 on the season when Gaborik scores and 12-20-5 when he is in the lineup, but does not score.

No one expects Gaborik to pull the Rangers into the playoffs by himself. But that doesn’t excuse him from standing still so much of the time. That doesn’t excuse Gaborik for his inadequate play in the defensive zone, not that linemate Brandon Dubinsky has been much better in his own end.

Tortorella has pushed and pulled at Gaborik. The coach has prodded, has praised and has criticized. After benching Gaborik in the second, Tortorella double-shifted him at times in the third period of the 3-2 overtime defeat. But nothing developed, even if Gaborik was somewhat more involved.

This benching isn’t for the future. This isn’t Tortorella trying to shape a 21-year-old Vincent Lecavalier. This is about now. This is about getting Gaborik to play now, to skate now and to compete now.

Kind of shocking that this would be necessary at this point, though.

Again. The burden is heavy. It’s been a long season. The injury has obviously taken a toll. The four guys who have scored more goals than Gaborik have elite teammates to share the puck and the responsibility.

But everyone has a story. Everyone is beaten up. This season has been a grind. And now there are two weeks to go.